Balmar SG200 Battery Monitor System

[Pegu Club]

We use the SG with two firefly batteries, has been in use for one year thus far, the unit they sent had a bad push button. They sent another unit, we wired it in it has been fine, sent back the bad unit got credited promptly. Customer service was excellent! I would recommend it.

[witzgall]

We knew going into release that there could be some outlier cases of installations that our battery chemistry profiles did not account for. Delfins setup seems to be one of them. 24v 600ah lithium with 200a charging is just not something we tested for. He has been great with getting us information about his setup and even some data. The BT gateway is getting close to release, and then we will turn our attention to this and some other things we have learned.

The customer feedback we have gotten thusfar has been great.

Chris

Originally Posted by Delfin

IMO, that effect is the result of low rates of charging combined with PSOC. I can't answer the question of whether the SG200 can detect it, and if so, how. My SG200 seems completely bamboozled by my LFP bank and charging routine, so I would have my doubts whether it can manage that additional bit of legerdemain, but maybe. The paper that describes this effect is very interesting. What the electronic signature of the chemical effect of Li "rich" vs. "poor" ions would be would seem to be tough to nail down.

Again, only in my humble opinion, the highly variable ways that users would charge their banks, to what SoC, following what level of discharge would seem to present some real challenges to characterizing what is going on with SoC and SoH reliably. I hope Balmar can get it wired for larger banks like mine, as it would be a useful additional data point to consider.

[sailah]

Since the other thread just turned into a morass...

So far everything has been going well. I made a mistake and selected Lead Acid again and reset the learning. Oh well. At least this time I have cycled the new battery bank a bunch.

Very much like the live Ah readout so I can see what various systems draw.

I also changed the color scheme to Ocean


What I found interesting when I accidentally reset the monitor is that it immediately went to 100% SoC+, but the amps going into bank were 19A from alternator. Maybe I just have to be patient all over again.

Anyways, DON'T reselect the battery type just banging around menu or you'll lose all your learnin'

[zboss]

It would be nice if the display could show more than one value at a time - a custom combination of values. Alternatively... make it a blackbox solution so that you can use any display you would want, for example a NMEA2K display like the "yachtd instrument display" and/or a signalK display.

The value of the device isn't in the physical monitor, its in the design of the sensors and the proprietary algorithms.

[Delfin]

Originally Posted by witzgall

We knew going into release that there could be some outlier cases of installations that our battery chemistry profiles did not account for. Delfins setup seems to be one of them. 24v 600ah lithium with 200a charging is just not something we tested for. He has been great with getting us information about his setup and even some data. The BT gateway is getting close to release, and then we will turn our attention to this and some other things we have learned.

The customer feedback we have gotten thusfar has been great.

Chris

From all accounts, and from testing the MaineSail has done on his LFP bank, for 90% of users the device seems to work exactly as one would wish. The complex number of variables in capacities, charging, and use patterns would naturally mean additional learning after the first iteration solves the majority of use cases. No new technology is as widely applicable in year one as it is in year 5 and I know Balmar will continue to work the edge cases, of which I appear to be one.

Balmar is a great company to work with.

[Paul L]

Originally Posted by Delfin

From all accounts, and from testing the MaineSail has done on his LFP bank, for 90% of users the device seems to work exactly as one would wish. The complex number of variables in capacities, charging, and use patterns would naturally mean additional learning after the first iteration solves the majority of use cases. No new technology is as widely applicable in year one as it is in year 5 and I know Balmar will continue to work the edge cases, of which I appear to be one.

Balmar is a great company to work with.

Where are you getting the 90% from? I haven't gone back through this thread and counted, but if I remember correctly there were 2 posters who said the numbers were good, with a fair number of others saying they weren't but it was probably just not enough cycles.

[Delfin]

Originally Posted by Paul L

Where are you getting the 90% from? I haven't gone back through this thread and counted, but if I remember correctly there were 2 posters who said the numbers were good, with a fair number of others saying they weren't but it was probably just not enough cycles.

From MaineSail's testing on his LFP bank, comments from other users and the assumption that LA banks don't present the same kind of complexity that LFP does in larger banks like mine. But if you have another number you'd like to promote, have at it.

[ayates]

Got my SG200 up and running today. The only issue I encountered was one of the pins fell off the wire for the Deutsch connector, but that was easily crimped back on. I have both a Victron and Balmar shunt in series; I placed the Balmar closest to the battery.

Set it to Flooded Lead Acid and 740 AH.

Now to wait for nine weeks of cycles before I see it again. Then we can see what it has to say for itself (and what it has to say about the batteries).



Allan.

[Paul L]

Originally Posted by Delfin

From MaineSail's testing on his LFP bank, comments from other users and the assumption that LA banks don't present the same kind of complexity that LFP does in larger banks like mine. But if you have another number you'd like to promote, have at it.

I don't want to promote any number. I'd like to understand how accurate this device is in real cruiser environments. Mainesails test was a good bench test with a somewhat simulated cruiser environment. The only other 'real' info I have is from the two CF threads. These have a few comments of it working as expected and quite a vew more the numbers don't make sense but I'm sure they will if I give it enough time. That doesn't add up to 90% accurate.

[DevoDave]

I have 400A/h of EV-Power LiFePO4 and only draw down about 10-15% overnight before my solars get back to 100% SOC next morning.

The SG-200 didn't like me for some reason. The smartmeter has never provided me with accurate readings except for the instantaneous values. The SOH fluctuates between 84% and 94% seemingly at random. It could be that my cells differ in their reactions than Winstons but in any event the product as it stands does not do what was promised.

I waited patiently for the bluetooth interface but six months later gave up.

I think this was rushed to market. Maybe a new firmware would fix it but who knows.

[john61ct]

Originally Posted by Delfin

for 90% of users the device seems to work exactly as one would wish.

Yes IMO that's likely optimistic.

If anything, Lead chemistries have greater behavioural variation than the mainstream LFP makers' cells.

I bet SG-200 does work close to perfectly with a certain set of battery models.

Getting a database of those listed would be valuable.

Cross-ref to the bigger thread

http://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/...or-209056.html

[CarlF]

Has anyone heard from Balmar when an update might be expected? I am among those who find it completely unreliable. It will track well for a few days and then lose it. Many, many cycles now. Fortunately I still have the Victron BMV-712.

[john61ct]

Can you reset at 100%?

[Delfin]

Originally Posted by CarlF

Has anyone heard from Balmar when an update might be expected? I am among those who find it completely unreliable. It will track well for a few days and then lose it. Many, many cycles now. Fortunately I still have the Victron BMV-712.

Do you have the Gateway installed yet?

[witzgall]

Carl, Chris from Balmar here. The firmware updates available now correct some problems previously mentioned in this thread. We are also working on others. If you need some help, please reach out to our technical support staff via phone or email, info on our website.

Chris

Originally Posted by CarlF

Has anyone heard from Balmar when an update might be expected? I am among those who find it completely unreliable. It will track well for a few days and then lose it. Many, many cycles now. Fortunately I still have the Victron BMV-712.